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Wow...um, what? If Bill Morrison was/went fan-baiting for ideas, I doubt the legal ramifications would allow him to keep recieving checks from Bongo.

Anyway, hi Bill. I was hoping you could answer a question I've had about Simpsons Comics regarding the artwork--Why did the character lines go from the "solid" line look (like the lines used on the cover art) to a slightly-swashy, caligraphy style?

Any, T.I.A. for answering!

Jake
(wow, I'm attempting to speak to potentially future boss)

Originally Posted by B. Morrison

Let's take a vote. How many like the comics in general and how many think they could be improved by members of this group. I'll wait while you fight amongst yourselves.

I never got a chance to compliment you on the wonderful "Springfield, USA" poster you drew with the hundreds of Simpsons characters standing next to each other. It's really one of the best, most original ideas I've ever seen for a wall poster and is done so well with such attention to detail. Great job!

Thanks! That one nearly killed me.

Originally Posted by Binky

Now here's something I've always wondered about. Roughly what percentage of all Simpsons characters that appeared on the show at the point are actually on the poster? It looks to be almost every single on, but I'm sure there are some that are missing. There's a caricature of John Swartzelder, for instance, but none of the other Simpsons writers can be found in the poster.

You may find this disappointing, but the art was originally done specifically for the binder of The Simpsons Style Guide (produced for Fox's Simpsons licensees). They just wanted a big crowd and only gave me a few specific characters that HAD to be included (The family, of course, and a few others). The rest were up to me, so I used the model sheets I had in my collection (many were from the character profiles we did for the first episode guide). Then they asked me to add bleed to the top so that when they cropped it, there wouldn't be a lot of empty space behind the top row of characters. They wanted it to look like the crowd went on forever. For those characters I used a lot of "extras" and one-time characters because I figured you would never see their faces after the cropping. However, Fox liked the art so much that they offered it to the licensees and it ended up on lots of merchandise, including the poster. Ironically, the art wasn't cropped for the poster and all of the characters were fully shown. Now people look at it and wonder why certain characters are missing, yet very obscure one made the cut.

Originally Posted by Binky

Oh, by the way, did you draw the Futurama "Space Pilot 3000" poster (which I guess was also sold as a giclee originally)? Another one of my favorites.

Yes, I did. But it was designed by Steve Vance and computer-painted by Nathan Kane.

Originally Posted by Robertuybrush

Thanks!

One more thing (for the moment): What happened with the book "Lisa Simpson, Girl Detective: The Case of the Stolen Stacy", that appeared on Amazon and disappeared a little after?

That's a book we were developing that Matt wanted to take more time on. He liked the story and the art, but wasn't convinced that novelizing the Simpsons characters was the right thing to do, either for the characters or for the fans. We had an outline, a sample chapter and a few illustrations done. We're considering working the story into a Lisa comic book that may be a mixture of prose, comics, and illustration, along the lines of the way Terry Moore aproaches his "Strangers in Paradise" comic.
The Amazon listing was obviously premature. I wasn't aware of it.

Originally Posted by Mario

The Halloween special Simpsons comic was funny, especially the Lord of the Rings parody! The art was nice, too! Great job guys! (Although, I didn't get the Moe story.)

Thanks! it's always exciting to see how different artists interpret the characters in "Treehouse." I'm assuming you're from across the pond, since you're referring to our ninth issue. Did you see the Rock and Roll issue yet? (#10 in the U.S.) Issue #11 comes out in the U.S. this week and it features Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, the creators of DC's "Swamp Thing" doing a parody of their own creation called "Squish Thing." Also, Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan who had a long run on Marvel's "Tomb of Dracula" (the series that "Blade" originated in) doing a parody of that book called "The Sub-basement of Dracula." Then we have an E.C. tribute featuring art by John Severin, Angelo Torres, Al Williamson and Mark Schultz. These names may not mean anything to most of you, but they are all legends in the comics field and it was a thrill to be able to work with them. They all share in your love of The Simpsons too!
The Moe story was based on an Edgar Allan Poe story, so it may work better for you after reading the original.

Wow...um, what? If Bill Morrison was/went fan-baiting for ideas, I doubt the legal ramifications would allow him to keep recieving checks from Bongo.

Thats not what I ment, what I ment was that Bill/Ian would give a few of us an idea or two that they have in an upcoming issue, and we give them a speculation, you know, like we do with upcoming episodes. :P

But if he wants to use one or two of my ideas, I wouldnt say no.

Yeah, The THOH stores are great. I like the varied styles of artwork in them.

does bongo have a website where i can get a subscription for simpsons comics

Bongo doesn't have a site, but we're trying to get one going. We've had certain legal obstacles to overcome in order to do a site that Matt will be thrilled with, but it looks like we may be getting close to doing that.
As for subscriptions, we're a small company and just don't have the manpower to do them. However, we get so many requests that I am going to look into the possibility of working with another company on that.

Originally Posted by Tessio

Please consider going back to doing "flip covers" on Simpsons Comics like you used to do.

There's good news and bad news on that issue. First, the bad. For reasons beyond our control, we will be using the backcover for paid advertising (as opposed to House Ads). I know how you feel. We love those flip covers too (although it drove the retailers crazy). The good news is that we're working on a new title that wil be devoted to stories about the secondary (and even tertiary!!) characters. We're considering giving this book the "Treehouse" approach with different art styles. I'd love to know what you all think of this idea.

Originally Posted by Jake

Why did the character lines go from the "solid" line look (like the lines used on the cover art) to a slightly-swashy, caligraphy style?

Most comic book inkers use a thick and thin brush style (even me, when I'm not doing The Simpsons). It's just hard finding inkers who can use a Rapidograph pen. So we decided since we're doing a comic book, to loosen up our previously strict guidelines and let it look like other comic books. I think the success of the different art styles in the Treehouse books gave us a little bit of license too. What's do you all think? Better or worse?

Just one more thing. It's great to be able to interact with you all, and I hope my and Ian's presence here doesn't intimidate anyone. Speaking for myself, I'm happy that you've welcomed us and want you to feel free to express your thoughts, be they lauditory or critical (though we LOVE the former!).
Ian and I are both HUGE Simpsons fans and want the comics to be as much like the TV show as the medium of comics will allow. We won't always agree with your points of view (just as you don't always agree with each other), but we do value the honest feedback.

Just one more thing. It's great to be able to interact with you all, and I hope my and Ian's presence here doesn't intimidate anyone. Speaking for myself, I'm happy that you've welcomed us and want you to feel free to express your thoughts, be they lauditory or critical (though we LOVE the former!).
Ian and I are both HUGE Simpsons fans and want the comics to be as much like the TV show as the medium of comics will allow. We won't always agree with your points of view (just as you don't always agree with each other), but we do value the honest feedback.

And I think its great that you could come and talk to us, and provide us with this information, Your presence here doesnt bother me none.

The good news is that we're working on a new title that wil be devoted to stories about the secondary (and even tertiary!!) characters. We're considering giving this book the "Treehouse" approach with different art styles. I'd love to know what you all think of this idea.

I like the idea. It could be very interesting if it's well done. I'd buy it (although that's not saying much, because I buy everything with the Bongo logo...). What would be the periodicity of this title?

Originally Posted by B. Morrison

Most comic book inkers use a thick and thin brush style (even me, when I'm not doing The Simpsons). It's just hard finding inkers who can use a Rapidograph pen. So we decided since we're doing a comic book, to loosen up our previously strict guidelines and let it look like other comic books. I think the success of the different art styles in the Treehouse books gave us a little bit of license too. What's do you all think? Better or worse?

Well, I'm not an expert in the subject of drawing and inking techniques, but I know I like the art of the comics most of the time, so if you ask me, I'd say keep doing it like you're doing it.

By the way, congratulations (to you and everyone who worked on them) for the Space Pilot 3000 and the Simpsons cast posters. I have them both... too bad I only had the space in my room walls to display the Futurama one. I have it framed and it looks awesome.
I also love the cover art of Simpsons Comics #104, I think it's my favorite Simpsons Comics cover. Who did it?

Just one more thing. It's great to be able to interact with you all, and I hope my and Ian's presence here doesn't intimidate anyone. Speaking for myself, I'm happy that you've welcomed us and want you to feel free to express your thoughts, be they lauditory or critical (though we LOVE the former!).
Ian and I are both HUGE Simpsons fans and want the comics to be as much like the TV show as the medium of comics will allow. We won't always agree with your points of view (just as you don't always agree with each other), but we do value the honest feedback.

Exactly, this is your site and if our being here messes that up we'll split. Don't let me being here stop you from being honest about how you feel about a comic I've written or Bill has worked on. We can take it.
I try to only step in if there's a question I've got the answer to.
It was cool seeing your site get mentioned on the latest Simpsons DVD by the way.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the THOH "Alternate" art, so if you guys were to release a semi-regular book which went with the Aleternate route I would have to give it a miss, as I find it detracts from the story too much. I know people love the alternate stuff, and as it's stands it's only once a year in the THOH specials anyway - which kind of works since it's alternate simpsons stories.

But in general, I would rather leave the alternate art for the fans to do, rather than bringing it into the "mainstream" for the comics.

EDIT: Also, if you wouldn't mind answering, kinda off topic but, How come Futurama comics always seem to be so late. I know #21 was supposed to be released in September but still no sign of it . Any chance Futurama will go back to its once every 2 month schedule?

Just one more thing. It's great to be able to interact with you all, and I hope my and Ian's presence here doesn't intimidate anyone. Speaking for myself, I'm happy that you've welcomed us and want you to feel free to express your thoughts, be they lauditory or critical (though we LOVE the former!).
Ian and I are both HUGE Simpsons fans and want the comics to be as much like the TV show as the medium of comics will allow. We won't always agree with your points of view (just as you don't always agree with each other), but we do value the honest feedback.

Well, I thought I'd expressed my thoughts the last time you were here (more Lovejoy), and nothing changed.

The good news is that we're working on a new title that wil be devoted to stories about the secondary (and even tertiary!!) characters. We're considering giving this book the "Treehouse" approach with different art styles. I'd love to know what you all think of this idea.

I think that's a wonderful idea! It'll be nice to also see regular, non-THOH stories done in different art styles. I think a lot of people will enjoy it.

Originally Posted by B. Morrison

Just one more thing. It's great to be able to interact with you all, and I hope my and Ian's presence here doesn't intimidate anyone. Speaking for myself, I'm happy that you've welcomed us and want you to feel free to express your thoughts, be they lauditory or critical (though we LOVE the former!).

Are you kidding? We love it! I really appreicate the fact that you're taking precious time out of your busy schedules for us Ineternet nerds. And as you can see, the people who were critical of your comics before you and Ian started posting are still criticizing them now (not so sure if this is a good thing though; if people aren't able to back their claims up, and just come here to say "I hate Ian Boothby", then I don't think they should be allowed to post) so I don't think your presence here is influencing their opinions or intimidating them in any way.

Now for another question. I'd like to know a little about the history of Bongo Comics. A lot of things about The Simpsons TV series are written on the Internet, but almost nothing about Bongo. Things like how you and Matt Groening got together to create it. Would you mind giving us a brief history of the company?

First off, thanks so much for taking the time to post here and ask for feedback. As a fan of Bongo Comics from the very beginning, I really appreciate you and Ian posting here and caring about what we think.

To be truthful, I really loved the flip covers. I don't know why, but it's so funny to me when I flip through my comic collection and see characters like Poochie and Mr. Sparkle with their own comic book covers. Is there NO chance that we will see covers for "Bumblebee Man Comics," "Lindsay Naegle’s Synergy Comics" or "Raphael in…Sarcastic Man Comics?" There are so many great tertiary characters that could and should have had their own “one-shots” comic covers.

I know I’m not helping when I say, “Go back to the way it used to be,” when you’ve already explained that paid advertising is the future for Bongo, but with 12 issues of Simpsons Comics a year – couldn’t eight of them have paid advertising and four of them have the flip covers?

I would love to see “Dr. Hibbert’s Comics,” “The Adventures of Superintendent Chalmers & Leopold,” “Gabbo Comics” and “Sideshow Mel Comics” on the back of Simpsons Comics. I could go on and on.

While a comic FEATURING the secondary and tertiary characters is a great idea, it would be better if they could get their own “one shot” covers and not just sections within a comic - there's a big difference.

And in regards to using different art styles, I can’t say that thrills me. I’m a traditionalist and prefer the “classic” Simpsons look.

I honestly don’t mean to come off as negative, and I hope you don’t misinterpret anything that I write as being unsupportive, because I will support Bongo’s releases. But for whatever it’s worth, that’s my feedback.

The good news is that we're working on a new title that wil be devoted to stories about the secondary (and even tertiary!!) characters. We're considering giving this book the "Treehouse" approach with different art styles. I'd love to know what you all think of this idea.